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Silvanaeditoriale Lynley Anne Herbert 2010-2011 IV serie - anno I, 2010-2011 Spedizione postale gruppo IV 70% SilvanaEditoriale Lynley Anne Herbert DUCCIO’S METROPOLITAN MADONNA: BETWEEN BYZANTIUM AND THE RENAISSANCE Estratto dalla rivista Arte Medievale IV serie - anno I, 2010-2011 - pagine 97-120 DUCCIO’S METROPOLITAN MADONNA: BETWEEN BYZANTIUM AND THE RENAISSANCE Lynley Anne Herbert tiny but complex work by the Sienese monly accepted views. Several scholars have painter Duccio di Buoninsegna, previ- understood the Virgin as standing behind a Aously known to scholarship as the parapet,7 the meaning of which was most tren- Stroganoff or Stoclet Madonna,1 was purchased chantly explained by the wall text from the in November of 2004 for $ 45 million dollars by Metropolitan Museum’s 2005 exhibition of its the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York newly acquired painting, which described it as 2 1 [1]. Commonly dated to c. 1300, this 8 /4 by 11 «a device that simultaneously connects and sep- inch painting (21 cm by 27,9 cm), which I will arates the timeless, hieratic realm of the paint- henceforth refer to as the Metropolitan ing and the real space and time of the viewer».8 Madonna, was hailed by the Metropolitan In his recent article about the acquisition, Keith Museum as a work by one of the «founders of Christiansen, the Metropolitan Museum’s Cu- Western European painting».3 Such a view pres- rator of European Paintings, suggested that the ents Duccio with the benefit of hindsight. angle of the corbels relates to the intended Through the filter of the Renaissance, Duccio’s viewing of the painting as one kneels in prayer.9 work is seen as art, and he as artist. The Scholars have tended to interpret the Child as Metropolitan Museum’s press release claimed playful, which they believed was a new invention that with this painting, «Duccio has redefined by Duccio intended to show Christ in a more the way in which we relate to the picture: not as human, realistic way by creating a tender interac- an ideogram or abstract idea, but as an analogue tion between a mother and child as might be seen to human experience».4 This formulation seems in life.10 In his article, Christiansen applied Hans to frame a contrast with other images that are Belting’s poetic assessment of this same gesture in ‘abstract ideas’, and alludes to the common con- Duccio’s Madonna di Crevole to the Metropolitan ception of the pictures called ‘icons’ in modern Madonna. Belting explained that Duccio: scholarship, pictures associated with the medieval and Byzantine tradition. Yet this is the «…surprises us with the playful behavior of the Child, who grasps his Mother’s veil as if he wanted to distract very tradition upon which Duccio’s paintings her from her melancholy. Like the realism of the Child’s build. Divorcing him from that, and setting up a costume, the tender touch suggests a private idyll of the strong dichotomy between Eastern, medieval nursery…».11 «icons» and Western, Renaissance ‘art’ creates a false and violent break with tradition that Christiansen himself, in his recent book pub- Duccio himself would not have experienced.5 In lished by the Metropolitan Museum, suggests this paper I will argue for new ways of under- that the Child is «reaching up to push aside his standing Duccio’s Metropolitan Madonna – not mother’s veil so he can see her» which he looking back from the Renaissance, but instead believes was intended to strike «a chord so looking forward from a medieval and specifical- familiar as to make this image register as real».12 ly Byzantine tradition, and ultimately at its con- Another interpretation, by John White, consid- text in Siena at the dawn of the 14th century. ered this motif a «gesture of affection and com- It is perhaps more appropriate to begin munication» with which the Child comforts His exploring this topic with a brief discussion of mother in anticipation of her future sadness.13 the painting in question.6 It depicts the Virgin Overall, this painting has been viewed as a cre- Mary holding the Christ Child on her left arm, ative, new, emotionally accessible interpretation with an unusual row of architectural corbels of an outdated theme, and more importantly, a running along the bottom of the image. As I true work of art rather than a cult object whose will offer my own interpretation of this work functional aspect predominated over its emo- below, I would like to first present some com- tional or aesthetic qualities.14 97 LYNLEY ANNE HERBERT 1. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Duccio di Buoninsegna, Metropolitan Madonna, c. 1300. The Metropolitan Museum’s enthusiasm for reviewers cynically pondered better uses for the this painting is understandable. Although the money,16 most faithfully characterized this as a cost was enormous, the Museum’s then landmark Renaissance painting by one of the Director Philippe de Montebello defended this first true great Western artists.17 The exhibition extravagant expenditure by explaining that it created around the Duccio at the museum fills a gap, and «the addition of the Duccio will emphasized this idea, and its place as one of the enable visitors for the first time to follow the first expressions of Renaissance art seemed sup- entire trajectory of European painting from its ported by the plethora of ‘Duccesque’ beginnings to the present».15 While some Madonnas grouped with it in the room, as well 98 DUCCIO’S METROPOLITAN MADONNA: BETWEEN BYZANTIUM AND THE RENAISSANCE 2. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Icon with the Virgin Eleousa, early 14th century. Gift of John C. Weber, in honor of Philippe de Montebello, 2008. as the later works that followed in the adjoining The Byzantine tradition was clearly influential to gallery. Yet, permanently hung in an art gallery this painter’s work, yet there was no Eastern art, for the first time in its 700 years of existence, or even significantly earlier Western art dis- and treated as ‘art’, this small, intimate devo- played with the Duccio. The exclusion of such tional painting almost appeared out of place, material denied the viewer the chance to make and had difficulty competing with the ornate comparisons that would support the wall text’s altarpieces it is believed to have inspired. assertion that «…the picture marks the transi- If Duccio inspired all of this, what inspired tion from medieval to Renaissance image mak- Duccio? He was not creating art in a vacuum. ing».18 While this statement was rather vague, 99 LYNLEY ANNE HERBERT the press release was more precise, stating that without the other. Duccio’s work, and especial- «Duccio’s infusion of life into time-worn, ly the Metropolitan Madonna, is strongly evoca- Byzantine schemes» was probably influenced by tive of Eastern art, and of Byzantine icons. For popular devotional and love poetry, as well as Hans Belting an icon, or ‘Holy Image’, referred Giotto’s frescoes, and that «it was an art that pre-eminently to the venerated «images of per- embraced the complex and varied world of sons that were used in processions and pilgrim- human experience, rather than one based on ages and for whom incense was burned and codified types, as had been the case with candles were lighted».26 This included private medieval and Byzantine painting. Duccio icons, which were characterized by their small responded by exploring in his own art this new scale and emotional expressiveness.27 Duccio’s world of sentiment and emotional response…».19 Metropolitan Madonna explicitly recalls this This emphasis on the newness of emotional tradition. It is icon-like in its golden field, its and human qualities in these images, and the emotive quality, and its small, portable size. It assertion that this was an ‘Italian’ invention of represents the ‘Holy Images’ of two people, this period, is questionable. Far from being a both the Virgin and Christ, whose half-length Western novelty, this was more likely an aspect portrait type was, according to Belting, reintro- that was coming from the East, particularly dur- duced to the West from the East, and reflects ing the Palaeologan era. This period saw the the legend of the miracle-working authentic flowering of a poignant iconography character- portrait that St. Luke painted of the Madonna ized by scholars as the Mother of God and Child.28 I will argue below that the Eleousa,20 or literally ‘Mother of Tenderness’ or Metropolitan Madonna was in fact designed to ‘Merciful’, which was well established by the retain something of that magical quality, and year 1300, as can be seen in a micromosaic at would likely have been considered apotropaic the Metropolitan Museum [2].21 The Metro- by its patron. We even know that the Metro- politan Madonna draws heavily on this type, as politan Madonna was actually used and vener- well as on the more formal iconography that ated in the way that Belting associates with scholars refer to as the Hodegetria,22 or ‘She Byzantine icons, evidence for which is physical- who shows the way’, which was based on the ly present in the burn marks left by centuries of famous icon in Constantinople that depicted candles having been lit along the bottom of the Mary holding the Child on her left arm and pre- frame.29 No aspect of this painting would pre- senting him to the worshipper. Duccio’s debt to vent it from being used or characterized as an Byzantine art has in fact long been recognized. icon. Perhaps rather than focusing on how James Stubblebine discussed the issue at some Duccio disrupted this tradition, we should be length in his 1966 article «Byzantine Influence asking how, and why, he embraced it.
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